Tradition with a twist

Gorgeously grey

Winning a colour award doesn’t have to involve the use of bright colours. Designer Natalie Du Bois won a Colour Excellence Award (sponsored by Resene) at the recent National Kitchen and Bathroom Awards, using several grey tones to create this harmonious kitchen.

The kitchen cabinetry is painted in Resene Foggy Grey and the bar stools in Resene Tuna, while the benchtop is in a grey toned Sea Pearl Granite. The fabrics on the window seat and bar stools are a two-tone grey, which works with the granite surfaces, white textured splashback tiles, the white pendant lights and the blonde French oak flooring. The walls are in Resene Wan White and the trims in Resene Half Albaster.

“Grey is the new white,” says Natalie of Du Bois Design. “The kitchen is still neutral with a soft grey that will go with pretty much any other colour. Greys seem to fit into any style of interior from Scandinavian, industrial, modern or traditional.”

The homeowners had different views about the look of the kitchen they wanted when they first approached Du Bois Design. He wanted a contemporary feel whereas she wanted a more traditional aesthetic. A compromise needed to be found.

Natalie responded by designing a kitchen with a distinct French aesthetic, with a fun play of materials to make the room feel unpredictable and unique.

She salvaged the original fireplace corbels and used them on the custom-designed rangehood. The striking island cladding is actually several lengths of various ceiling scotia butted together.

A timber “table” was then layered over the granite benchtop and given turned legs to carry on the traditional theme.

In the corner of the room, a window seat was added at the owners’ request and has large drawers for storage below, finished in Resene Quarter Foggy Grey.

A shot of yellow

White is such a classic kitchen colour, and for good reason. But how do you transport a white kitchen beyond the ordinary? How about some cheeky peeks of sunshine yellow?

First, there’s the turned leg of the table-like island bench. Finished in Resene Golden Dream, it adds a twist of humour to an already quirky shape. Resene Golden Dream was also used to frame the cooking area, and when you open the cupboard above the hob, the interior is also painted yellow. “It makes you smile,” says designer Celia Visser of Celia Visser Design. The colour treatment certainly answers the homeowners’ brief for a “happy, joyful” kitchen. The rest of the kitchen is finished in Resene Alabaster.

Structurally, Celia shifted the kitchen into its new location and re-organised the adjoining spaces to deliver a sophisticated multi-use area in which to live, cook and socialise.

Her attention to detail extended to using traditional pressed tin panels on the bulkhead above the cooking area to add to the eclectic nature of the kitchen. She also found three fun yellow Louis Poulsen Toldbod yellow Blossom lights to hang above the island. Says Celia: “Even though Resene Golden Dream had been chosen first, it was amazing how close the colour of the yellow Blossom lights matched the Resene colour.”

The outlook of the room was an important design element so a mirror was used as a splashback to allow the landscape to be viewed from every angle of the space.

Now you see it...

With the growth of small-space living comes the need to be extremely clever about both the storage we and the colours we use.

Multi-use spaces, thorough planning, a limited colour palette and every square centimetre put to good use are the overriding principles behind small spaces, whether it’s a whole home or a kitchen.

This kitchen is part of a small home designed by Edwin Derricutt of ESD Design. Edwin chose to use Resene Half Black White for the interior walls, and hid the kitchen behind Resene Blackjack bifold doors.

The kitchen is a 2m-long galley but includes everything the owners need:

• The two-burner hob and the sink are set at opposite ends of the kitchen to maximise bench space.
• Two floating shelves are set on to the front of the splashback, giving extra storage and easy access.
• The wall cabinets are set just far enough below the ceiling to allow for platter storage.
• Black is a recessive colour so the black glass splashback helps to make the kitchen appear larger when the doors are open. It also acts as a mirror, reflecting the room behind, and bouncing light off its gloss surface.
• The bifold doors have finger holes to open them, rather than handles, to reduce visual clutter.
• The kitchen sits back-to-back with the bedroom, so the space above the kitchen is used on the bedroom side for high storage.

Fashion colours launched

If you’re looking for on-trend colour inspiration for your kitchen, or any room of the house, check out the new Resene The Range fashion colours 18.

A stand-out feature of The Resene The Range fashion colours 18 is the many complex colours developed for today. Our eyes have learnt to appreciate subtle nuances in colour. What once was off-white, may now be beige, greige, cream or chalk. Colours are deeper and complex, layered with subtle undertones. Dusky tones develop as multiple colourways and weathered undertones merge.

The new fandeck also, for first time, includes two palette cards of popular colours from the Resene Whites and Neutrals range, including classics like Resene Spanish White to today’s favourite whites like Resene Black White and Resene Alabaster.

How about Resene Duck Egg Blue or Resene Secrets for a traditional-style kitchen? Or Resene Buttercup or Resene Hashtag as accents in a white kitchen? See your local Resene ColorShop for more ideas and inspiration.

Kitchen Decorating Ideas
View more kitchen decorating ideas from Food magazine in the Resene kitchen inspiration gallery.

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